History of the Institute

Establishment of the Institute in the 1950s

The foundation of the Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (ÚFE) is closely linked to the period of merging non‑university research institutes represented primarily by the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts (1890) into a single organization, the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1952. At this time, a number of completely new institutes were also established. The Presidium of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences took the decision to establish the Institute of Theoretical Radio Engineering (ÚTR) in 1953.

Its activities started on 1 October 1954 and the official date of the Institute’s foundation is 1 January 1955. Soon after, it was renamed as the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics (ÚRE). The Institute operated under this name for a long period from 1955 to 2006. The first director of the Institute was appointed Sergej Djaďkov. Together with him, a group of experts from the industrial research of stable oscillators and statistical methods in radio engineering came to the Institute. In addition, several prominent experts from the fields of circuit theory, precision time measurement and lectromagnetic wave propagation joined the Institute. At the very beginning of its activity, the Institute attracted worldwide attention with the successful measurement of the Doppler effect in the first artificial satellite of the Earth, the Soviet Sputnik, in 1957. The Institute also successfully participated in the 1958 EXPO World Exhibition in Brussels, where it exhibited a automatic computer and an apparatus for resonant transformation of signals. Both devices were awarded gold medals.

At the end of 1955, the Institute had 36 employees (16 of whom were scientists), a year later the corresponding numbers were 71 (19) and in 1960 even 180 (30). In 1959, the leave of a group of 11 employees contributed to the creation of a new independent organization, which formed the basis of the Institute of Information Theory and Automation (ÚTIA) CAS.

In the first years of its activity, the Institute did not have its own building and premises; its laboratories were located in 14 different places in Prague, the largest of which was in the new building of the Geophysical Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Spořilov. Soon the construction of a new building in Kobylisy began, where individual departments began to move from 1960.

The 1960s marked by the move to a new building, the launch of the maser and laser and the first laser eye surgery

The move to the new building was a significant step for the development of experimental research facilities. For example, the first standard for precise time and frequency measurements with a stable crystal oscillator could be placed in a temperature‑stabilized, 14‑metre‑deep shaft built in the new building. Jiří Tolman, a leader in research on the generation and measurement of precise time and frequency, encouraged several collaborators to begin research on quantum electronics with the goal of developing a quantum generator of microwave radiation ‑ a maser (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) for precise time measurements. The group led by Viktor Trkal succeeded in launching the maser on ammonia molecules on 26 March 1963; it was the second Czechoslovak maser, the first was launched on 12 February 1962 at the Military Academy in Brno, for the development of accurate radars. In parallel, only as side‑research, the development of the ruby laser was carried out from 1961. Stimulated emission was observed as early as 1962, but conclusive measurements of the laser threshold crossing according to Theodor Maiman’s paper were made by Jan Blabla and Alena Jelínková only at the beginning of May 1963. Shortly after, they performed the first Czechoslovak public demonstration of the laser in the Planetarium in Stromovka. Jan Blabla and his colleagues later assembled several gas lasers: the He‑Ne (June 1964), the high‑power CO₂ (1966), the N₂ (1966) and the He‑Cd (1970) lasers. In 1964, the first laser eye surgery in our country was performed in our institute in cooperation with the Bulovka University Hospital. The story of the development of the laser ophthalmocoagulator is the subject of a short documentary film (see www.ufe.cz/70).

From the very beginning, the Institute was the coordinating department of URSI (Union Radio‑Scientifique Internationale) for Czechoslovakia. Professor Stránský was the chairman of the Czechoslovak section and Petr Beckman was the secretary general. P. Beckman was in the management of the ÚRE and head of the “Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves” department. After P. Beckman emigrated to the United States, the staff of his department was transferred to the Institute of Geophysics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in 1963.

At the beginning of 1963, Václav Zima was appointed the new director of the Institute. He made fundamental changes in the structure and scientific focus of the Institute. As mentioned earlier, The Department of Electromagnetic Wave Propagation was transferred to the Institute of Geophysics, and on the other hand, a part of the former Laboratory of Optics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, dealing with research on materials for infrared optics, was included in our Institute. Later, in 1965, a group for research on ferroelectric single crystals and their applications in electronics was transferred to our Institute from the Institute of Physics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. In line with world progress in the field of microelectronics, optoelectronics and quantum electronics, a significant part of the Institute’s capacity was concentrated on research oriented towards semiconductor technology, optical communications and physics. A distinctive feature of Director Zima’s phase was the orientation towards practice, including the introduction of prototype production facilities. In the eastern part of the basement of the main building was the production of printed circuit boards, in the building of the service center, above the canteen, a third floor was added in the 1970 s for the assembly of electronic equipment, and in the 1980 s he wanted to build a new pavilion for the prototype production of laser diodes. It was intended that the four‑storey building would be located in the northern part of the campus behind the prefabricated two‑storey building of wooden desks of the Tesko company, which for a long time housed the Institute of Plasma Physics. However, the Office of the Chief Architect of Prague limited the height of the building to two storeys, considering the height of that‑day adjacent building towards the Kobylisy tramway depot, and ordered the demolition of the so‑called “Tesko‑barrack”. Together with the requirement of a rapid start of prototype production of laser diodes it led to a modification of the original plan, where the new pavilion was finally devoted to the technical and economic administration of the Institute and semiconductor laser sources were prepared in the main building. Selected research activities of the Institute after
1965 are summarized below.

Circuit theory has been part of the research focus of the Institute since its foundation. In the beginning, it was research on cascade theory of two‑port networks, theory of electric filters and theory of nonlinear circuits and oscillators. Later, research was focused on discrete and digital signal processing, especially digital filters, discrete Fourier transform and spectral and cepstral analysis. In 1981, a small research group began to focus on speech analysis, coding and synthesis. From the very beginning, this group collaborated with the Institute of Czech Language of the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University, the Institute of Information Theory and Automation of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, and a number of industrial laboratories. In 1987, these research teams were awarded a prize by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences for their contribution to speech coding research. In 1975, when Mirko Novák was the head of the department, Mirko Novák left the ÚRE with most of the department and founded the General Computing Centre (GCC) of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences – today’s Institute of Computer Science of the CAS – in the newly built premises of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Mazanka.

Efforts dedicated to precise time and frequency have produced world ‑renowned and applied results. In particular, the method of time transfer with the use of synchronization pulses of television broadcasts, proposed by Jiří Tolman, has been applied worldwide. In the 1990 s, the Global Positioning System (GPS) gradually overtook its function.

Věnceslav František Kroupa, who initially collaborated with Jiří Tolman in the construction of the Czechoslovak Centre for Precision Time and Frequency, later turned to frequency synthesis and achieved international fame. His book “Frequency Synthesis: Fundamentals and Measurements”, published in 1973, was the first book published on the subject in the world. He was awarded the Mach Medal of the Czech Academy of Sciences in 2003 for his scientific contributions.

Since the mid‑1960 s, the Institute has been developing the field of optoelectronics. At that time, our Institute was one of the few laboratoriess in the world where research, design and production of GaAs electroluminescent numerical displays was carried out. The original display design, moreover, in the context of emerging digital technology, attracted considerable international attention.

Research on the physical properties of electroluminescent elements was carried out from 1967 to the end of the 1980s. Gas‑phase heteroepitaxy was used to produce GaP substrates for electroluminescent sources in the red region of the visible spectrum. This method was further improved by introducing liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) for the preparation of heterostructures. In 1979, the focus shifted to semiconductor radiation sources for optical communications. Activities were focused in two directions: the first was an AlGaAs/GaAs system for the 0.8 μm telecommunications window and the second was an InGaAs/InP system for operation in the 1.3 μm and 1.55 μm windows. In 1981, continuous emission of radiation at 0.8 μm wavelength at room temperature was achieved in an AlGaAs/GaAs laser. This was achieved at the 1.3 μm wavelength in 1988 and a year later at the 1.55 μm band.

To characterize the prepared semiconductor materials and structures, methods were developed to study their electrical and optical properties. Among the most important are Deep‑level Capacitance Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS), Temperature-dependent Hall Effect Studies and Low‑temperature Photoluminescence Spectroscopy.

Since 1974, Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) has been developed at the Institute, which is an important method for the study of solid surfaces. Zdeněk Šroubek has achieved remarkable international recognition in this field thanks to his contributions both to the experimental development of the methodology and, in particular, to the understanding of the process of electric charge transfer during the sputtering of ions from solid surfaces.

In the field of coherent optics, several specific methods have been developed to investigate deformations and mechanical vibrations of various objects, or to describe their shapes using holographic topography. Holographic diffraction gratings, as a convenient alternative to mechanically engraved gratings, have been produced and supplied for special optical devices in industry. A number of original contributions to the theory of holographic imaging have been made, for example the idea of focusing coupled gratings being a world first. Research on holography is mainly connected with the work of Miroslav Miler.

Beginning of research on optical fibre technology in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s

The development of integrated optics, i.e., the research of various waveguide elements for dividing, combining, controlling and processing optical signals directly at optical frequencies, started in our Institute. Theoretical analysis of light propagation in planar and channel waveguides has been developed, particularly with respect to anisotropy of the substrate and to electrooptical and acousto‑optic interactions. Methods for the design as well as preparation of lithographic masks were elaborated to facilitate the experimental work. At the end of 1970 s, following the world trends in optical communications, several teams in the Institute started to deal with the preparation and characterisation of optical fibers.

At the end of 1980 s, joined effort of our Institute and the Institute of Chemistry of Glass and Ceramic Materials of the CAS resulted in methodological and technical support of technologies for optical communications in Czechoslovakia. This support included ‑ for example, physical models used for the control of preparation of graded‑index fibers, unique devices for the measurement of the fiber diameter during drawing and for automatic control of this process. These results were supported by extensive theoretical and experimental research on light propagation in fibers for both communications and sensors, fiber characterization, and technology of fiber components. Emphasis was also given to the research on polarization‑maintaining fibers with stress ‑applying parts.

The transformation of the Academy of Sciences and the return to basic research after November 1989

The fall of the totalitarian regime and the return of democracy to our country in 1989 initiated a number of positive changes in the Academy of Sciences and its institutes. Already in 1990, at the very beginning of the new era, Institute’s Scientific Council was elected, a body that took an active part in the management of the Institute. Viktor Trkal was appointed as a director. Changes also affected the research program ‑ the emphasis was gradually shifted from industrial and applied research to basic research. The opening up to the world logically brought with it the expansion of international scientific cooperation with the most technologically advanced countries and the resulting enrichment of the scientific work itself. The newly introduced research support in the form of research grants has supported the freedom of research environment. During 1990–1992, it was necessary to reassess the work of all the institutes of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and to secure their activities after the division of Czechoslovakia by adopting the Act on the Czech Academy of Sciences. The transformation of the Academy of Sciences included a reduction in the number of its Institutes and staff. Our Institute passed the evaluation successfully in 1992 but, like other institutes, had to reduce the number of employees by one third to 128. Since then, the Institute has undergone a demanding international evaluation on a regular basis. In 1994 Jan Šimša became Director and after two terms of office Vlastimil Matějec was appointed Director in 2002.

Since 1990, research has been focused in three main areas/sections ‑ electronic signals and systems, photonics, and materials research for optoelectronics.

Activities of the Institute after 1990

Several diagnostic methods have been developed for modern characterization of semiconductor layers, surfaces and structures as well as glass materials. The capabilities of the DLTS spectroscopy method have been considerably extended by the development of conductivity spectroscopy. The low‑temperature PL spectrometer now allows sensitive, high‑resolution measurements in the spectral range 300 nm – 5000 nm. The characterisation capabilities have been further enhanced by the installation of a scanning electron microscope with an EDX system, complemented by an in‑house designed and fabricated cathode‑luminescence system. In order to extend the diagnostic capabilities of the SIMS apparatus, a mass flow spectrometer was developed. The study of nanostructures and very thin films of selected semiconductors was carried out using ballistic, emission electron microscopy and spectroscopy, including a scanning tunnelling microscope developed at the Institute.

Experimental research on metastable states of DX centres has been carried out in collaboration with the University of Manchester, England. It was found that the tin‑related DX centers in AlGaAs material exhibit significantly different dynamic properties from the silicon and telluride‑related centers. Using DLTS and electroluminescence spectroscopy, new mechanisms for the operational degradation of commercial GaP:N green‑emitting diodes with high radiance have been identified. This research was carried out in collaboration with Siemens in Germany.

The properties of deep levels in semiconductors have also been studied using theoretical methods employing tight‑binding approximations, ab‑initio calculations of energy band structures, and self‑consistent Green’s function methods, which have been verified on vacancy calculations in Si. These methods were then used to calculate deep levels of the so‑called DX‑center in GaAs during Vladimir Kuzmiak’s research stay at the University of California, Irvine. In the course of the stay, these methods were implemented in the emerging field of photonic crystals and, a little later, in subsequent joint projects, in the field of metamaterials, namely cylindrical structures with a negative refractive index, the so‑called left‑handed materials. The experience gained was further evaluated in the framework of a long ‑term collaboration with the University of Lisbon in the study of the nonlinear properties of photonic crystals and the dynamic characteristics of 1D and 2D Bose‑Einstein condensates.

Connecting the Optical Fibre Technology Laboratory

In 1993, the Laboratory of Technology of Optical Fibers, a part of the former Institute of Chemistry of Glass and Ceramic Materials joined the Institute. This act made it possible to strengthen the Institute research in the field of optical fibers, because the Laboratory’s program has been focused on material research of optical fibers for communications, fiber lasers and chemical sensing. Physical and chemical principles of the fabrication of multilayered optical structures via the chemical vapor deposition and sol‑gel methods have been investigated. On this basis, rare ‑earth doped active fibers and novel types of sensing fibers, such as sectorial fibers, inverted‑graded index fibers, fibers based on soft‑glasses, have been prepared and investigated in collaboration with researchers at the Ecole Central de Lyon, France, and the University of Jean Monnet in Saint Etienne, France. Special polymeric and xerogel coatings sensitive to chemicals have also been investigated. Microstructure fibers and special fiber components with long‑period gratings have been prepared in the Laboratory.

Advanced fibers produced by the Laboratory represented, to a great extent, a basis for the investigation of non‑linear fiber optics. The research into generation, amplification and non‑linear propagation of ultrashort optical pulses in active fibers was carried out. Novel methods for preparing twin‑core optical fibers were designed, the fibers were prepared and tested. Software tools for the analysis and design of erbium‑doped, erbium‑ytterbium‑doped praseodymium‑doped and Raman fiber amplifiers have been developed. These programs have been used for the optimization of rare‑earth‑doped fibers and for the analysis of transient effects in fiber amplifiers. They have also been integrated into commercial simulation software packages by Optiwave Inc. (Canada).

Start of SPR sensor research

Research into surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors started in the early 1990s. Initially, the research effort was mainly focused on the theory of surface plasmons and their experimental investigation using the attenuated total reflection method. The first SPR sensor developed at the Institute in 1992 was based on the attenuated total reflection method and angular scanning. Shortly afterwards, a fiber optic SPR sensor was proposed and developed into a highly miniaturized fiber optic SPR probe for localized sensing. Research into SPR sensors based on integrated optical waveguides has also been pursued with emphasis on sensors based on ion‑exchanged waveguides. In the late 1990s, the SPR phenomenon on diffraction gratings was studied. This research resulted in a new generation of SPR sensors based on diffraction gratings. In 2002, a unique multichannel SPR sensor based on spectroscopy of surface plasmons on an array of diffraction gratings was demonstrated that allowed for the simultaneous measurements in as many as 100 independent sensing areas. The unique SPR sensor platforms developed at UFE have been applied for the detection and quantification of chemical and biological analytes relevant to medical diagnosis (biomarkers, hormones, antibodies), environmental monitoring (pesticides), and food safety and security (pathogens and toxins). Particularly significant was the long‑term collaboration with the Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion in Prague, dedicated to developing biosensors for the investigation and diagnosis of onco‑hematological diseases.

Period 2000-2025

In 2005, Act No. 341/2005 Coll. on Public Research Institutions was adopted, which radically changed the legal status of the Institute ‑ from a contributory organization to a public research institution – and thus, the Institute gained greater independence. The Act was implemented gradually, and the administrative changes were also used to change the name, which is now the Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the CAS, v. v. i. The importance of photonics and optics in the focus of the Institute, which have been principal since the 1960s, regardless of the Institutes’ ame, is thus reflected in its name. A Board of the institution was established, whose competences include mainly conceptual and scientific‑organizational issues; and a Supervisory Board, that provide supervision of the establisher, the Czech Academy of Sciences, especially in economic matters. The format of the annual reports was standardized, gradually replacing the Institute’s more or less regular biennial reports from 2007 onwards. Great attention has been paid to the evaluation of the Institute’s research activities. The evaluation is organized by the Czech Academy of Sciences regularly in a five‑year cycle. These evaluations provide a comprehensive, international and independent assessment of the activities of the Institutes and provide formative feedback to the management and further development of the Institutes and individual research teams. Thus, after 2012, the Institute was restructured in the light of recommendations from previous evaluations. The restructuring led to simplification of the management structure, as the research sections – an intermediate management level between the management of the Institute and the research teams – were eliminated; and the research topics of speech synthesis and liquid phase epitaxial (LPE) growth technology of semiconductor layers were suppressed, the latter partially merged with the materials diagnostics department that led to formation of the team of Preparation and Characterization of Nanomaterials lead by Jan Grym. The research in signal processing was transformed into a junior team of Bioelectrodynamics. The Waveguide Photonics and Optical Fiber Technology teams have merged into a large Fiber Lasers and Nonlinear Optics team, that operates the Institute’s traditional large infrastructure for research of fiber lasers and optical fiber technology. The teams of Optical Biosensors and the team aimed at precise time and frequency have been retained in their original form; in the latter team, its function as a service Laboratory of the National Time and Frequency Standard was emphasized. In 2017, another junior team (Nano Optics) was established by Marek Piliarik after his postdoctoral stay of several years at the Max‑Planck‑Institut für die Physik des Lichts in Erlangen.

In the last two decades, much attention has been paid to the modernization and renovation of laboratories. The first swallow was the reconstruction of the laboratory of high‑power fiber lasers in 2002‑2003 in the former souterrain workshop for printed circuit board production. The largest laboratory investment was the construction of the laboratory of nanotechnology, used mainly by the Optical Biosensors and Nanomaterials teams, which was completed in 2013.

Notable awards and projects after 2000

We will mention a few particularly significant projects, awards and event‑organization achievements. ÚFE has organized number of conferences, among the most important is our contribution to the organization of the Optics+Optoelectronics symposium of the professional society SPIE, which is one of the largest events in the field of optics and optoelectronics in Central Europe. Since 2007 it has been held every other year in Prague, alternating with the symposium SPIE Photonics Europe in Brussels or Strasbourg.
The largest sub ‑conference in terms of number of papers and participants is the Optical Sensors conference led by Jiří Homola, who also chaired the whole symposium in 2013, 2015 and 2017 as the general chair. ÚFE scientists regularly chair several other sub‑conferences of the symposium, Jiří Čtyroký the conference on Integrated optics, Vladimír Kuzmiak on Metamaterials, Pavel Peterka on Specialty optical fibers and Ivan Kašík the Workshop on optical fiber technology. Among the most significant major conferences organized directly by the ÚFE we mention the European Conference on Integrated Optics in 2003 (chaired by Jiří Čtyroký); Europt(r)ode in 2010 (chaired by Jiří Homola) and the Workshop on Specialty Optical Fibers and Their Applications in 2025 (WSOF, chaired by Pavel Peterka). 

The most important awards are mainly associated with the personality of Jiří Homola, who was the director of ÚFE in 2012‑2021. Jiří Homola has been for a long time one of the most cited scientists in Czechia, he is a laureate of the most important Czech scientific award Czech Head Award (2009), the Award of the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports for outstanding results in research and experimental development (2014), and other important national and international awards. In 2012, he was elected Fellow member of SPIE, and in 2022‑2024 he was Vice‑Chairman of the Council for Research, Development and Innovation of the Government of the Czech Republic. Other awards include the Special Award of the Chairman of the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) for Radan Slavik’s project on fiber grating research (2010), the Minister of Education Award for Miroslav Karásek (2007), which he received with colleagues from CESNET for research on fiber optic amplifiers, and two awards from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TAČR) for Pavel Honzátko’s projects, in 2013 for the project “Optical packet switch” and in 2020 for the project “Thulium fiber lasers for industrial and medical applications”.

In the last two decades, ÚFE research teams have been working on a wide range of projects. For a more detailed list of these projects, please refer to the articles of each team in this issue. The TAČR project that led to the development of the commercially successful GTR receiver by the team of precise time and frequency is even illustratively presented in the form of a comic strip. Here we take the liberty of highlighting some of the projects. We are very proud of large research projects, such as the EXPRO projects of GAČR “Novel biophotonic tools for investigation of cellular processes” (Jiří Homola) and “SubTHz on‑chip devices for controlling protein nanomachines” (Michal Cifra), ERC‑CZ project “Optical imaging of single protein dynamics” (Marek Piliarik), participation in the National Institute for Cancer Research (NICR, Jiří Homola and Markéta Bocková), and prestigious international projects such as the “Tactical Advanced Laser Optical Systems” projects of the European Union defence agencies (Pavel Honzátko). Another important group of projects are the ones supported by the European Structural Funds. In the early years after Czechia became part of the EU, these funds were not available to the ÚFE because these funds were intended for organizations located outside Prague. Since 2024, we have been working on 4 large projects funded under the Programme Johannes Amos Comenius, the call Excellent Research. The team of Fiber Lasers and Nonlinear Optics team ÚFE has been even coordinating the LasApp project, that aims at synergetic cooperation and fostering of the Czech research centers in laser technology. In addition, we are involved in the projects AMULET (Optical Biosensors team), QUEENTEC (mainly the Laboratory of the National Time and Frequency Standard) and SenDISo (Nano‑Optics team) projects. Since 1989, the extent of the EU‑funded Johannes Amos Comenius projects presents an exceptional opportunity for the development of ÚFE research, especially in terms of the upgrade of research infrastructure, national and international cooperation and excellent research programs.

Directors of the Institute:

• 1954 – 1963: Sergej Djaďkov
• 1963 – 1989: Václav Zima
• 1990 – 1994: Viktor Trkal
• 1994 – 2002: Jan Šimša
• 2002 – 2012: Vlastimil Matějec
• 2012 – 2021: Jiří Homola
• 2021:  Pavel Honzátko, Pavel Peterka
• 2022 – today: Pavel Peterka

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